Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki ordered a shakeup of senior security officers on Tuesday, one day after he said he was going to change the country's security strategy as well as top personnel.

Adnan al-Siraj, an Iraqi politician and analyst, says Iraq is facing with “separatist plots” which is backed by some of Iraqi officials and political parties, such as al-Iraqiya party led by Ayad Alavi.
 

Al-Siraj, who is a member of Iraq's State of Law Coalition, told Al-Alam that certain officials including Iraqi parliament speaker Osama Al-Nujaifi, and al-Iraqiya party’s members of the parliament stay in the way of Maliki’s efforts for restoring security in the country.

“Iraq is entering into a new phase of facing with separatist conspiracies,” he said, recalling dubious escalation of protests and sectarian rifts during the past months. “These protests led to blocking the streets and abduction of civilians and killing of Iraqi soldiers,” he added.

The Iraqi politician said Prime Minister Maliki had documents on certain officials’ involvement in recent escalation of violation in the country including the anti-government protests which increased by Al-Nujaifi’s provocative sectarian remarks.

Al-Siraj said that “Al-Iraqiya party members make obstacles in the way of government attempts for improving security of the country and their refusal to vote for the new information minister is an example of their troublemaking actions”.

A wave of violence began on April 23 when militants invaded security checkpoints near the town of Hawijah in north Iraq, sparking clashes in which 53 people were killed.

Dozens more died in subsequent unrest, including attacks targeting security forces in Kirkuk, Nineveh, Diyala and Anbar provinces, raising fears of a return to the all-out conflict that took the lives of tens of thousands of people from 2006 to 2008.